IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jhappi/v14y2013i1p263-274.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Role of Gratitude in Breast Cancer: Its Relationships with Post-traumatic Growth, Psychological Well-Being and Distress

Author

Listed:
  • Chiara Ruini
  • Francesca Vescovelli

Abstract

Despite the increasing number of studies documenting the positive effects of gratitude in coping with traumatic events and facilitating psychological well-being, none is addressed to patients with life-threatening illnesses such as cancer. The aims of this study are to examine the role of gratitude in a breast cancer sample and its correlations with post-traumatic growth, psychological well-being, and distress; and to compare patients reporting higher levels of gratitude (High Gratitude Individuals, HGI) versus those reporting lower levels (Low Gratitude Individuals, LGI). 67 breast cancer patients were assessed with: (1) Gratitude Questionnaire; (2) Post-traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI); (3) Psychological Well-being Scales (PWBS) (4) Symptom Questionnaires (SQ); and were divided into: (1) High Gratitude Individuals—HGI (n = 27); (2) Low Gratitude Individuals—LGI (n = 40). Bivariate correlations between questionnaires and ANOVA between-group were calculated. Gratitude was significantly and positively correlated to all of PTGI scales, to PWBS positive relations, to SQ relaxation and contentment, and negatively related to anxiety, depression, and hostility-irritability. HGI and LGI reported significant differences on the PTGI and SQ dimensions, but not on PWB scales, with HGI displaying higher levels of PTGI, positive affect and lower symptomatology. Also in breast cancer patients gratitude is strongly associated to post-traumatic growth, reduced distress and increased positive emotions, but surprisingly not to psychological well-being. Since the majority of patients reported low gratitude levels, the results suggest the importance of developing interventions to clinically increase them also in oncology. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Chiara Ruini & Francesca Vescovelli, 2013. "The Role of Gratitude in Breast Cancer: Its Relationships with Post-traumatic Growth, Psychological Well-Being and Distress," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 263-274, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:14:y:2013:i:1:p:263-274
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-012-9330-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10902-012-9330-x
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10902-012-9330-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michele Tugade & Barbara Fredrickson, 2007. "Regulation of Positive Emotions: Emotion Regulation Strategies that Promote Resilience," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 311-333, September.
    2. Steven Toepfer & Kelly Cichy & Patti Peters, 2012. "Letters of Gratitude: Further Evidence for Author Benefits," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 187-201, March.
    3. Loren Toussaint & Philip Friedman, 2009. "Forgiveness, Gratitude, and Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Affect and Beliefs," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 10(6), pages 635-654, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nathan T. Deichert & Micah Prairie Chicken & Lexus Hodgman, 2019. "Appreciation of Others Buffers the Associations of Stressful Life Events with Depressive and Physical Symptoms," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 1071-1088, April.
    2. Adam P. McGuire & Candice L. Hayden & Rawda Tomoum & A. Solomon Kurz, 2022. "Development and Validation of the State Moral Elevation Scale: Assessing State-Level Elevation Across Nonclinical and Clinical Samples," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(6), pages 2923-2946, August.
    3. Izabela Krejtz & John Nezlek & Anna Michnicka & Paweł Holas & Marzena Rusanowska, 2016. "Counting One’s Blessings Can Reduce the Impact of Daily Stress," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 25-39, February.
    4. Anna Alkozei & Ryan Smith & William D. S. Killgore, 2018. "Gratitude and Subjective Wellbeing: A Proposal of Two Causal Frameworks," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(5), pages 1519-1542, June.
    5. Marianne Simons & Johan Lataster & Sanne Peeters & Jennifer Reijnders & Mayke Janssens & Nele Jacobs, 2020. "Sense of Abundance is Associated with Momentary Positive and Negative Affect: An Experience Sampling Study of Trait Gratitude in Daily Life," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(6), pages 2229-2236, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xiao Zhou & Rui Zhen & Xinchun Wu, 2019. "Understanding the Relation between Gratitude and Life Satisfaction among Adolescents in a Post-Disaster Context: Mediating Roles of Social Support, Self-Esteem, and Hope," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 12(5), pages 1781-1795, October.
    2. Ethan D. Lantz & Melanie Stearns & Ian McKay & Danielle K. Nadorff, 2022. "The Mediating Effect of Gratitude on the Relation Between Religiosity and Well-being in Samples of Undergraduate Students and Adults Formerly Raised by Grandparent Caregivers," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 969-984, March.
    3. Minmin Gu & Sylvia Y. C. L. Kwok, 2020. "A Longitudinal Study of Power-Assertive Discipline, Inductive Discipline and Preschoolers’ Anxiety: Preschoolers’ Forgiveness as a Moderator," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 13(1), pages 85-103, February.
    4. Lili Tian & Shuya Chu & E. Scott Huebner, 2016. "The Chain of Relationships Among Gratitude, Prosocial Behavior and Elementary School Students’ School Satisfaction: The Role of School Affect," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 9(2), pages 515-532, June.
    5. Shuangshuang Xin & Xiujie Ma, 2023. "Mechanisms of Physical Exercise Effects on Anxiety in Older Adults during the COVID-19 Lockdown: An Analysis of the Mediating Role of Psychological Resilience and the Moderating Role of Media Exposure," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-15, February.
    6. Urmila Rani Srivastava & Vandana Maurya, 2017. "Organizational and Individual Level Antecedents of Psychological Capital and its Associated Outcomes: Development of a Conceptual Framework," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 42(3), pages 205-236, August.
    7. Lia-Ecaterina Oltean & Andrei C. Miu & Radu Șoflău & Aurora Szentágotai-Tătar, 2022. "Tailoring Gratitude Interventions. How and for Whom Do They Work? The Potential Mediating Role of Reward Processing and the Moderating Role of Childhood Adversity and Trait Gratitude," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(6), pages 3007-3030, August.
    8. Lukasz Kaczmarek & Jolanta Enko & Małgorzata Awdziejczyk & Natalia Hoffmann & Natalia Białobrzeska & Przemysław Mielniczuk & Stephan Dombrowski, 2016. "Would You Be Happier If You Looked Better? A Focusing Illusion," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 357-365, February.
    9. Janusz Surzykiewicz & Sebastian Binyamin Skalski & Agnieszka Sołbut & Sebastian Rutkowski & Karol Konaszewski, 2022. "Resilience and Regulation of Emotions in Adolescents: Serial Mediation Analysis through Self-Esteem and the Perceived Social Support," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-9, June.
    10. Fernanda Inéz García-Vázquez & Angel Alberto Valdés-Cuervo & Lizeth Guadalupe Parra-Pérez, 2020. "The Effects of Forgiveness, Gratitude, and Self-Control on Reactive and Proactive Aggression in Bullying," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-14, August.
    11. Fritz, Charlotte & Taylor, Morgan R., 2022. "Taking in the good: How to facilitate savoring in work organizations," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 139-148.
    12. Leonie Manthey & Viktor Vehreschild & Karl-Heinz Renner, 2016. "Effectiveness of Two Cognitive Interventions Promoting Happiness with Video-Based Online Instructions," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 319-339, February.
    13. Imen Krifa & Llewellyn Ellardus van Zyl & Amel Braham & Selma Ben Nasr & Rebecca Shankland, 2022. "Mental Health during COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Optimism and Emotional Regulation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-17, January.
    14. Kimberley Seear & Dianne Vella-Brodrick, 2013. "Efficacy of Positive Psychology Interventions to Increase Well-Being: Examining the Role of Dispositional Mindfulness," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(3), pages 1125-1141, December.
    15. Kakkar, Shiva & Vohra, Neharika, 2021. "Self-Regulatory Effects of Performance Management System Consistency on Employee Engagement: A Moderated Mediation Model," American Business Review, Pompea College of Business, University of New Haven, vol. 24(1), pages 225-248, May.
    16. Sylvia Y. C. L. Kwok & Minmin Gu, 2017. "The Role of Emotional Competence in the Association Between Optimism and Depression Among Chinese Adolescents," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 10(1), pages 171-185, March.
    17. Erin M. Fekete & Nathan T. Deichert, 2022. "A Brief Gratitude Writing Intervention Decreased Stress and Negative Affect During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(6), pages 2427-2448, August.
    18. Maike Neuhaus & Tarli Young & Laura J. Ferris & Charlotte L. M. Grimmel & Natasha Reid, 2022. "A Narrative Review of Peer-Led Positive Psychology Interventions: Current Evidence, Potential, and Future Directions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-15, June.
    19. Troebs, Cord-Christian & Wagner, Tillmann & Heidemann, F., 2018. "Transformative retail services: Elevating loyalty through customer well-being," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 198-206.
    20. Sagrario Yárnoz-Yaben & Alaitz Garmendia & Priscila Comino, 2016. "Looking at the Bright Side: Forgiveness and Subjective Well-Being in Divorced Spanish Parents," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 17(5), pages 1905-1919, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:14:y:2013:i:1:p:263-274. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.